Just a Little Higher...

On the ground everything is gray. The tarmac, the terminal building, the sky, the horizon. A cold drizzle falls. Such is the state of this Chicago afternoon. Number six in line for departure, all checklists complete, waiting for our turn to blast off into the murk. Just another day.

"Eagle flight 436, runway three two left, tango ten, clear for takeoff, turn right heading zero four zero."

Before takeoff checklist complete, thrust set. The gray world outside accelerates past the cockpit as drops of water race each other towards the top of my windshield.

"Vee one. Rotate"

The sound of the tires on the pavement ceases, and almost as quickly, the once prominent gray surrounds us with its impenetrable shroud.

We accelerate. We climb. We are blind. Only the light of a computer screen hints at our progress. Our focus is directed solely upon that screen as though every other thing in the world has ceased to exist. With the blind faith of zealots we follow as the screen leads us deeper into the gray nothing. We accelerate. We climb.

There is little warning. Only a brief silvering of the once impenetrable gray alerts us just before we burst forth.

Light! Glorious, drenching, warm sunlight! The enveloping gray is powerless! Below us is a pearled white landscape, and above us is the clearest blue sky imaginable, stretching out as though it has no end in the universe. Just like that, the gray is forgotten...

If ever you are in search of joy, you need only accelerate, and climb.

It is always a beautiful day above the clouds.